A noble art

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Jo Anne Van Tilburg

"Born to a wealthy and prestigious English Quaker family in 1866, Katherine rebelled against their strict Victorian values, becoming one of the first female graduates of Oxford University and the first woman archaeologist to work in Polynesia.". "At the age of forty, Katherine married a charismatic Australian adventurer, William Scoresby Routledge, and they built a ninety-foot, state-of-the-art yacht, christening her Mana, the Polynesian word for "spiritual power." From 1913 to 1915, Katherine and Scoresby led the Mana Expedition to Easter Island, where Katherine conducted the first-ever excavations of the island's world-famous stone statues. Katherine collected vast quantities of new information, which she faithfully transcribed into her journals and field notebooks. Through interviews with dozens of elderly men and women, she was able to save the history of the island, whose population was struggling back from the brink of extinction. Without Katherine's extraordinary efforts, Easter Island's traditional beliefs and customs would have been forever lost.". "Katherine's hard work came at a terrible price. A family history of schizophrenia and a deep sense of spiritualism brought her under the spell of an old mystic named Angata, who led an Easter Island rebellion in which Katherine played a central role. After her return to England, she heard "voices" that precipitated a separation from Scoresby and nearly destroyed her ability to write and to publish her fieldwork. Her family blamed Angata, the Easter Island "witch doctor," for driving Katherine insane. With Scoresby, they kidnapped Katherine from her lavish London home and isolated her in an asylum, where she died seven years later.". "Many of Katherine's papers were thought to be lost until they were discovered by Jo Anne Van Tilburg, the contemporary world's leading authority on the Easter Island statues. In this compelling biography, Dr. Van Tilburg brings her unique expertise to Katherine Routledge's discoveries and to her turbulent life. The result is an exciting personal story, set against the drama of Katherine's remarkable exploration of one of the most intriguing archaeological sites in the world."--BOOK JACKET.

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William E. Fredeman

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) was a prominent English painter and poet who helped found the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, known for their non-arcade-mic approach to religious, moral, and medieval subjects. He was also a key figure in the Pre-Raphaelite movement, which sought to revive the artistic style of the period before Raphael. Here's a more detailed overview: EARLY LIFE and INFLUENCES: Rossetti was born in London and came from a family with Italian roots, which influenced his artistic interests. PRE-RAPHAELITE BROTHERHOOD: He was founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, along with artists like William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, aiming to break away from academic art style of the time. ARTISTIC STYLE: Rossetti's art is characterized by its sensuality, medieval revivalism, and focus on religious and literary themes, often featuring female figures. POETRY: He was also prolific poet, and his work reflects his artistic sensibilities and interests in medieval subjects and mythology. KEY WORKS:some of his most famous paintings include "Ecce Ancilla Domini" (the annunciation), "Proserpine", and portraits of Jane Morris, a model and muse for many Pre-Raphaelite artists. PERSONAL LIFE: Rossetti's personal life was closely linked to his work, particularly his relationships with his models and muses, including Elizabeth Siddal and Fanny Cornforth. LEGACY: Rossetti's work continues to be celebrated for its beauty, its exploration of complex themes, and its contribution to the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

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David S. Reynolds

Exploring the full range of writings by and about Whitman - not just his most famous work but also his earliest poems and stories, his conversations, letters, journals, newspaper writings, and daybooks - Reynolds gives us a full, rounded picture of the man, of his creative blending of disparate ideas and images, and his contradictory stances on race, class, and gender. Whitman's uniqueness is shown to spring primarily from his closeness to and absorption of his contemporary culture. We see how the social convulsions of Jacksonian America were mirrored in the tribulations of the poet's family, and how Whitman's private anguish, which can be felt in his early poems, was swept up in his growing alarm for a nation riven by sectional controversies, political corruption, and class division. Into the vacuum created by the social and political crises rushed Whitman's gargantuan poetic "I," gathering images from every facet of American life in a hopeful gesture of unity: the cocky defiance of the Bowery b'hoys, the rhythms and inflections of actors and orators, the bloodcurdling sensationalism of penny papers, the incandescent images of luminist painters, the zany visions of popular mystics. We see Whitman in a society rampant with illicit sexual activity, which it refused to acknowledge. We see him aligning his passion for young men with the psychological and behavioral customs of a century in which same-sex love was actually common.

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[by] John Jones

"'All the wonders of the world in your own home in three dimensions...' This was the magic and charm of the stereoscope for millions of Victorian families. And now, a century after its heyday, we can experience again the wonders of the stereoscope. Within this slipcase your will find: A history of stereographic photography, with 160 illustrations in full color and in two colors --A specially designed three-dimensional viewer* --48 stereo cards--facsimiles of the nineteenth and early twentieth century originals--in full color and in two colors. Now in your own home, in three dimensions: the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the American Indian, Hamlet, Hooker's Sea Bear, Ancient Egypt, the Happy Homes of England, Majestic Vistas--and assorted examples of the historic, comic, artistic, and sentimental scenes so dear to the hearts of our forebears who produced, bought, and were thrilled by these daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and paper prints in the days when the stereoscope was the rage all over the world."--Slipcase.